Wokingham 0-2 Barking & Dagenham

BARKING & DAGENHAM’S AMAZING unbeaten run in the London Girls’ League now stands at forty-one games, stretching back to February 2017, as captain Tolu Elufowoju’s brace ensured the champions ended the competition with a 100% record once again. The win over Wokingham, added to maximum points against St Albans, Wandsworth, Hackney, Brent, Lewisham and nearest challengers Woking, means the district side finish in top spot for an incredible fifth season in succession.   

Just two days before, their opponents had demonstrated their class with a 2-1 away win of their own, against nearby Woking, to capture the Southern Counties League title.

And as joint Surrey League winners, Wokingham presented a considerable challenge if Barking & Dagenham were to rack up another victory on their travels.

Front pair Imogen Helyer and Lexie Arding had amassed seventy-six goals between them and the hosts went into the game knowing they could still clinch runners-up medals if other results went their way.

Looping

Instead though, it was the visitors – who were goalless and winless for the first five games of the season – who carved out the best chances.

An early corner was cleared to Atene Skendelis twenty yards out who tested the keeper with an attempt from distance inside the first minute.

And on ten minutes, Jasmine Amrane and Amelia Hussain combined to feed Elufowoju, only for the top-scorer’s looping effort to drop on the wrong side of the crossbar.

Midway through the half, an Amrane corner was collected on the far corner of the box by Dominyka Petrauskaite who centred to Elufowoju five yards out. The first effort was blocked but fell to Hussain who intelligently cut the ball back to Sasha Stoute, firing over from twenty-five yards.

It wasn’t until nine minutes before half-time that Francisca Arhin was first called into action, comfortably smothering Arding’s drive to maintain what would become her sixteenth clean-sheet in twenty-nine games.

Dazzling

Two minutes later, the visitors were ahead. Seizing the ball from deep, Elufowoju showed power and pace, and no shortage of dazzling footwork, to find space down the inside right channel before slotting the ball past the keeper under heavy pressure from home skipper Ruby Dabrell.

Following the goal, Barking & Dagenham’s high standards slipped for a spell. Holes began to appear in the away side’s backline and the elation of taking the lead seemed to cause a momentary lapse in concentration.

That disappeared in the second half however, which began with Wokingham pressing forward and Barking & Dagenham absorbing the pressure to threaten on the break.

Petrauskaite went first. From deep within her own half, she collected the ball before a trademark length-of-the-pitch burst drew a save at the near post from Josie Jenkins.

Alethea- Beckey Adjoh-Davoh went close three minutes later with a similar run following Chloe Ajewole’s long throw.

Killer Blow

And when Amrane and Elufowoju returned to the action with fifteen minutes remaining, Barking & Dagenham took control.

First, the skipper spread play wide to Jaydee Williams on the left flank who picked out Amrane for a fierce drive across goal.

Then, with ten to go, came the killer blow.

Defending a corner at her near post, a composed Ajewole cleared up-field where Raima Hossain scrambled possession to break free down the right. The Northbury winger cut inside to Amrane who opened up the Wokingham defences with a wonderful lay-off to Elufowoju.

There was still much to do but the first touch and finish were deadly as Elufowoju fired home her twenty-eighth of the campaign to go joint second on the Barking & Dagenham all-time scorers’ chart, breaking the record for the most goals in a debut district season.

Focus

Although Wokingham threw bodies forward with unrelenting purpose and threat, Barking & Dagenham defended their area with the commitment and focus that has become their hallmark. Rusne Rimkeviciute’s tackling, Arhin’s handling, Ajewole’s bravery, Stoute’s alertness and Skendelis’s indefatigability kept their opponents at arm’s length as – despite the pressure – the visitors continued to create the best chances.

Petrauskaite and Amrane both fashioned death throe one-on-ones to finish the game off for good, but Jenkins’ positioning saw her collect both understandably tiring attempts as the mercury soared in the late morning heat.

Victory was deserved for the visitors although both teams gave an impressive showing in the difficult mid-summer conditions. Elufowoju’s goals will take the headlines, but the doughty resistance and refusal to yield of those behind her truly set up the win – and were the characteristic backbone of a season that began somewhat inauspiciously, but ended in familiar glory.

Alongside the Southern Counties League Plate, the London Girls’ League title completes a remarkable double for the district team who also finished as runners-up in the Southern Counties Cup and the Essex Girls’ League. Medals in four of the five competitions entered represents an excellent return and is one that this talented crop of players should be proud of.

Barking & Dagenham: Ajewole (George Carey), Skendelis (Godwin), Arhin (Northbury), Petrauskaite (Richard Alibon), Williams (Goresbrook), Stoute (Rush Green), Rimkeviciute (William Bellamy), Elufowoju (Rush Green), Hossein (Northbury), Ameny (Valence), Amrane (Gascoigne), Hussain (Richard Alibon), Adjoh-Davoh (George Carey)